'Forbidden Planet' Star Anne Francis Dies at Age 80

Lieslie Nielsen and Anne Francis in 'Forbidden Planet' (1956). (MGM)

Actress Anne Francis, who was the love interest in the 1950s science-fiction classic "Forbidden Planet" and later was sexy private eye in "Honey West" on TV has died at age 80 in California.

Funeral director Bill Guntle in Santa Barbara says Francis died Sunday of natural causes at a local nursing home. Her daughter, Jane Uemura, tells the Los Angeles Times that Francis died from complications of pancreatic cancer.

Francis, a famous beauty of the time, had a childhood career in radio and TV and on Broadway before turning to movies.

In later years she returned to television, appearing in dozens of series.

In "Honey West," which aired from 1965 to 1966, she played a female James Bond who kept a pet ocelot.